Have you ever wondered what your dog is thinking? Dog trainer, healer, and counselor, Jocelyn Kessler, asserts that while your dog does not speak English, he or she is communicating with you all of the time.

In The Secret Language of Dogs, Kesler explains the importance of learning how to listen to your pet by learning to read the behavioral and energetic traits of your dog.

Based on her years of experience with dogs and their owners in Southern California, Kessler explains how energy flows between pets and their owners and what the implications of that energy flow are for both parties. Her stories show how we often inflict our own emotional issues onto our pets, and how negative energy can result in both behavior and physical difficulties.

In addition to the stories, she provides concrete tips on how to connect with your pet:

So often I hear people mutter, “If only my dog could talk. Then I would know what it really wants. I would know what to do!” All the while I am thinking—they are communicating with you. They are communicating with you more than you communicate with yourself. That is the problem.

As a society, we are genuinely disconnected. We grasp for anything that could bring us light or joy, and the irreplaceable feeling that we are made of love. We live in a place that fears connection yet pines for it at the same time. You’ve heard the rant—real connection comes only from you. This, mind you, requires a great amount of work. The excuses fly left and right, and everything else in our lives is prioritized ahead of making the effort to do all the work that is necessary. It is too damn hard to take ownership of who we are and how we behave, so we all stay in that safe disconnected space to which we are conditioned.

That is, unless you have a dog, and not just have a dog, but really love your dog. If that is you, then you may be in more luck than you know! Help is not only on the way, it may be sitting at your feet as you read this.

Animals tend to be undervalued, underrated, and underappreciated. It must be emphasized that all animals of any nature have the ability to communicate energetically. They communicate in the moment and unobstructed, whether dog, zebra, wolf, or horse. This should be remembered and identified as we move forward. However, because the domesticated dog interacts with and around humans, and lives so closely with us in our homes, dogs can communicate on a more in-depth level concerning any of our human afflictions. Most humans do not frequently interact with, nor do they normally live daily with or around, wild animals. I have chosen to focus my book on the interaction, communication, and connection to domesticated animals and not wild animals.

A good example of how connected our dogs are to us is the fact that your dog knows when you are getting a common cold even before you start sniffling. If you have great anxiety, not only does your dog feel it but she takes it on immediately. And, most of the time it’s because your dog doesn’t want you to feel it.

Animals live in the moment. Once they take on human neuroses, whatever they may be, they have no idea what to do with them. It develops a toxicity that is reprehensible for the animal, and they know that it is not their true identity. When human beings function within all our conditioned issues, we have no idea if those issues are right or wrong, true or untrue; they just are. This is an unnatural state. Your dog, if shown the way, would love to move out of that state instantly and bring you with him.

Unfortunately, we are the ones who refuse to move entirely out of the dark and have become accustomed to the disconnection and conditioning. We have forgotten what it feels like to live in the light. What we don’t know is that our dog tries twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to have an open connection with us. Our dogs are saying, “Hey, I get you and I am here to tell you we can do this together. Don’t you want to live in the moment before you get sick, or divorced, or fired from your job?”

What we need to realize and remember is that an open energy flows between you and your dog, and that what we inflict upon ourselves due to the human condition is transferred energetically to our dogs. Now don’t get me wrong. There are many individuals who dearly love their dogs and would never think of intentionally sending any energy that would harm them. However, it does occur.

The most common example of this is the rescued dog, whose life was usually very horrid before he ever came to you. As amazingly wonderful as it is to rescue an animal, the flip side tends to be that whatever may be plaguing the animal is something that has plagued the new human companion for years. Although the dog’s past issues that were brought to you when you rescued it are none of your doing, the dog has come to you for a very specific universal reason. It is just manifested in a different way that is not so direct or evident, but is deep-seated and buried within us. In contrast, dogs are so uncomfortable with their affliction that you can see it vividly as it is on the surface and crystal clear.

When I am asked to come and read the energy between a client and their dog, I always connect and listen to the animal first before sending the energy through to the human being. That is because animals are so clear with their energy, and they jump at the opportunity for assistance, whereas the human companion scrambles to detract me during the session or cover up what is really going on. I always say it is never just about the animal. It is always, always, always about the human companion and who they are in relation to their dog.

To uncover and discover this relationship requires an open connection between dog and human companion. Once that is achieved, both souls can be retrieved. The animal and the human being then begin to see one another in a whole new light—a true light that illuminates your dog as a guide, a mirror to reflect who you are, an educator, and a creature who knows you better than you know yourself.

In this way, your dog is the perfect being to show you how to really connect to yourself. Through such a teacher, one cannot help but become conscious. The beginning of a new happiness is realized. Energy begins to flow, to move forward, and opens us to limitless change.